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Another crazy possible stand-your-ground situation in Florida

Remind me to not wear a hoodie in Florida. In fact, remind me to not travel to the state until the Stand Your Ground law is repealed.

Trying to one-up George Zimmerman, Claudius Smith of Orlando recently shot and killed 21-year-old Ricardo Sanes, who was running away from Smith. Sanes had climbed the fence and gone into the neighbors' yard when Smith followed, shot, and killed him.

After the incident, Smith told the authorities that he felt threatened, because Sanes' "pants were falling down" and his hands were in the pockets of, you guessed it, a hoodie. He's hoping the state's Stand Your Ground law applies to him and no charges come his way as a result.

I'm not going to talk about this very in-depthly again, but it boggles my mind how Claudius Smith could come out of this without any charges being placed against him. Let's look at this from a rather simplistic angle:

A) Ricardo Sanes was running across Claudius Smith's yard, climbed the fence, and entered the neighbors' yard, before he continued running

B) Claudius Smith felt threatened by a man running away from him, so he shot and killed him

C) Smith's story could potentially hold up due to the Stand Your Ground law, where no charges will be placed against him

If Smith gets out of this without being convicted of anything, just imagine the insane possibilities in the Sunshine State. All a person would need to do is say they felt threatened - either by a look, someone being in close proximity to them, etc. As nice as I'm sure Florida's weather is during this time of year compared to a large majority of the rest of the country, I'd still rather stay bundled up in Ohio than step foot in the Sunshine State at this juncture. At least here, I won't have to wear a bulletproof vest, helmet, cup, and sign on my back that says, "If I ever frightened or pissed you off, I'm very sorry. Please don't shoot me. Remember, Santa's watching and Jesus loves you."

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/01/21/3187451/florida-suspect-says-believed-man-killed-armed-pants-falling/

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